HC Deb 28 March 1972 vol 834 cc228-9
Q5. Mr. Joel Barnett

asked the Prime Minister if the public speech of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in Blackpool on 11th March on industrial matters represents Government policy.

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir.

Mr. Barnett

Will the right hon. Gentleman please clarify "interventionist policy"?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Gentleman is using a phrase of his own choosing to describe a policy which consists of enabling British industry to reconstruct itself through free depreciation over the whole country, through initial allowances and through regional development grants of a specific and limited kind in the regions themselves.

Mr. Sheldon

As the main opposition of hon. Gentlemen opposite to the old investment grant was that it was not related to profitability, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman why the Government have introduced a new kind of grant which is also not related to profitability?

The Prime Minister

These grants are, in fact, related to profitability, and if the hon. Gentleman wants to have the figures for the relationship to profitability in the development areas and in the country as a whole I will have them set out for him.

Mr. Dell

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these grants will be going to firms which may not be profitable and that they will not necessarily, therefore, be related to profitability? Is he aware that they may not be related to employment creation, either? How does he reconcile this situation with his previous statements about development area policy?

The Prime Minister

I have said that I am prepared to set out figures comparing the value of the incentives for profitable and unprofitable firms in the development areas. There has long been a series of local employment grants under the Local Employment Acts. This has been the case for certainly the last 15 years. We introduced in 1959 the Act which created them, and we have always supported them in the development areas.